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The book is widely regarded as the precursor of the modern mystery and suspense novels. T. S. Eliot called it 'the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels'. It contains a number of ideas which became common tropes of the genre: a large number of suspects, red herrings, a crime being investigated by talented amateurs who happen to be present when it is committed, and two police officers who exemplify respectively the 'local bungler' and the skilled, professional, Scotland Yard detective. (Summary from Wikipedia) For further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording. Read by Librivox volunteers. For more free audiobooks, or to become a volunteer reader, please visit librivox.org.
Download M4B Part 1 (327mb) Download M4B Part 2 (230mb)Reviews
Subject: Disappointing
Subject: Collins
My favorite part of the novel is that Collins write from different perspectives, including that of the lower class. Quite honestly one of my favorite parts is listening to the butler talk about his wife.
The readers were easy to understand and did good credit to the book. It was a very nice listen.
Subject: We
Rachel's eighteenth birthday is celebrated with a large party, whose guests include her cousin Franklin Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see, including some Indian jugglers who have called at the house. Later that night, the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom, and a period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill-luck ensues. Told via a series of narratives from some of the main characters, the complex plot traces the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, identify the thief, trace the stone and recover it.
My comments: Mike Gardom reads quite a few chapters and does an excellent job. The balance of the chapters are taken by a variety of Librivox readers. Most are done quite well and on balance, this book is well read and easy to listen to. Wilkie Collins tends to be a bit long-winded in his writing, but the many twists and turns keep the plot interesting.
